Jonah 1:17
What does Jonah 1:17 mean?
A plain-English look at Jonah 1:17 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Jonah 1:17 means
Jehovah appoints a great fish to swallow Jonah, preserving him in the depths for three days and three nights. This extraordinary provision is both judgment and mercy: Jonah is confined, yet not consumed; disciplined, yet delivered. The God who stirred the storm now commands a creature to keep His prophet alive, moving him toward repentance and renewed mission. This event foreshadows a greater sign to come, as the time in the fish points forward to Christ’s burial and rising on the third day. God’s sovereignty over sea and creature serves His saving plan, even through Jonah’s failure.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And the Lord made ready a great fish to take Jonah into its mouth; and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And Jehovah appointeth a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah is in the bowels of the fish three days and three nights.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Not available in this translation
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Context
The chapter closes with God’s final act of pursuit and preservation. After the crisis at sea ends for the sailors, Jonah’s personal ordeal begins. The prepared fish ensures Jonah’s survival and sets the stage for his prayer and humbling in the next chapter. Thus chapter 1 ends not with resolution for Jonah, but with divine containment—proof that Jehovah both judges and saves, and that His purposes for Nineveh and for His prophet will stand.
v.16Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice unto Jehovah, and made vows.
v.17This passage
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Psalms 104:25
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, Wherein are things creeping innumerable, Both small and great beasts.
- Luke 11:30
For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
- Jonah 4:6
And Jehovah God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.
- Matthew 12:40
for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
- Matthew 16:4
An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of Jonah. And he left them, and departed.
- Habakkuk 3:2
O Jehovah, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid: O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
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